The Bills aren’t ruling anything out with respect to the quarterback position in the 2017 NFL draft.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
The Bills have long been rumored to be a candidate to take a quarterback early in the 2017 NFL draft this week, but getting from pre-draft speculation to the actual truth is not an easy passage. Bills head coach Sean McDermott, who has been heavily engaged in the pre-draft process with GM Doug Whaley, wasn’t offering any hints in his pre-draft press conference this past week.
McDermott left all options on the table with respect to the quarterback position in this year’s draft.
“It’s a quarterback-driven league,” he said. “It’s a very important position. We feel good about the quarterbacks we have. I really like the work that they’ve put in, starting with Tyrod [Taylor] and [moving] right on down the line. It’s an important position overall, just like the other positions.
“In order to do our job the right way, for us to just ignore certain positions wouldn’t be doing my job or Doug doing his job. We’re going to look at every position so that we know if ‘X’ player is sitting there, we know them inside and out, and we can make a good, solid decision for this organization – quarterback no different.”
Many draftniks believe the Bills could take one of the top quarterback prospects in round one with the 10th pick. Some have even gone so far as to indicate that Buffalo could trade up into the top 5 to get one of the top quarterback prospects.
While ruling out the Bills taking a quarterback at 10 cannot be an absolute, trading up to get one with just six picks at their disposal seems unlikely unless they’re willing to part with future picks.
Buffalo has been diligent in their evaluation and review of the quarterback prospects in this year’s class. Owner Terry Pegula has even taken an active role in seeing some of this year’s signal callers up close and personal.
“He’s been involved,” said McDermott of Pegula. “He’s always involved. The greatest thing about Terry and Kim [Pegula] is that they give us the resources and they’re available. What more could a guy ask for from a leadership standpoint? Terry is very involved and was involved on those quarterback visits, and they’re going to be involved moving forward. I love the commitment that signals to us and this organization. How many owners out there would be spending that time to be going on those trips? To me, it shows the importance it holds for both Kim and Terry.”
In a draft with a quarterback class that has less league-wide consensus than most, and some similarities to the far from stellar 2013 quarterback class, a class in which the Bills traded back before taking EJ Manuel 16th overall, it’s hard to see Buffalo leaning heavily in favor of making one of this year’s QBs a top 10 choice.
“Quarterback, I think we lack the top-tier talent at the position this year,” said NFL.com draft analyst and former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah.
Jeremiah’s colleague had a bit of a different opinion.
“When it comes to the quarterback class, I know there’s been a lot of shots taken at this class,” said Bucky Brooks. “But I do believe there’s some young developmental players at the position that are intriguing prospects. Even the guys that will come off the board (early), they will be picked apart, kind of talked about how they’re not ready to play. But I do believe in time that one or two of these guys can emerge as stars at the position in the next two or three years and become stars in this league.”
Buffalo added a veteran backup to the roster in free agency in T.J. Yates, knowing second-year player Cardale Jones is still working on the finer points of his personal game. Having a young QB in the pipeline in Jones could be seen as a deterrent to adding another developmental quarterback. Finding enough time to develop two young QBs effectively looks like a big ask for Buffalo’s offensive staff, which will be engrossed in getting starting QB Tyrod Taylor fully up to speed to execute the scheme to the best of his ability.
There are obviously ways around that issue if the Bills have the opportunity to draft a quarterback this year whom they believe has a better chance of achieving long range success in the league than their current developing QB.
That’s why McDermott didn’t have a concern about any kind of message drafting a quarterback might send to Tyrod Taylor.
“Our players understand that we’re going to compete and that we’re going to look at every option to improve this football team,” he said. “We’re going to earn the right, number one, to be on this football team and that starts with myself and right through our players. You have to earn the right to start on this football team and Tyrod and I have talked about that just like I’ve talked about that with the other players. I believe that’s how you do things and when you do that, you come up with a pretty good product in the end.”
Taylor didn’t seem bothered by the prospect of the Bills drafting a quarterback.
“I mean ultimately that decision doesn’t involve me,” Taylor said. “My say so doesn’t go into that and it’s not going to bother me one way or another. I’m just going to keep focusing on the things that I know will make me a better player and whatever helps to make this team better.”
If the Bills ultimately determine when they are on the clock that the value is right for one of this year’s quarterbacks, such a scenario would seem to be more likely later in the draft. Round three looks like a good spot for a prospect like Pitt’s Nate Peterman or the fifth round where a player like Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs figures to come off the board.
“We’re going to do the right thing for this organization,” said McDermott. “If that’s a flashy guy, if he turns out to be that, it’s a flashy guy for the right reasons. If it’s not, so be it. We’re going to pick a guy for the right reasons. We need to get it right for us. I’ve been around picks before and they haven’t been flashy picks but they turn out being the right pick and that’s what’s important here as we go through that process.”